HMMM, I SUSPECTED THIS CONNECTION ALL ALONG

It's always so nice when science finds proof of what I thought was just me being a slight hypochondriac. I used to think I was a little weird because I would start choking every time I used a spray cleaner. While I love what spray cleaners do, I am often hesitant to use them because they take my breath away. Now I find out I’m not unusual at all. Researchers at the Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology at the Municipal Institute of Medical Research in Barcelona, Spain, have found that “frequent use of household cleaning sprays may be an important risk factor for adult asthma.”

Air fresheners, and furniture and glass cleaners had a particularly strong effect. Researchers found that the risk of developing asthma increased with frequency of cleaning and number of different sprays used, but on average was about 30 to 50 percent higher in people regularly exposed to cleaning sprays. “Our findings are consistent with occupational epidemiological studies in which increased asthma risk was related to professional use of sprays among both domestic and non-domestic cleaning women,” says Jan-Paul Zock, Ph.D., who headed up the research. “This indicates a relevant contribution of spray use to the burden of asthma in adults who do the cleaning in their home.”

Two-thirds of the study participants who reported doing the bulk of the cleaning were women, about 6 percent of whom had developed asthma at follow-up. The clinical application is for physicians to be aware of the potential of cleaning products to cause respiratory symptoms and possibly asthma, according to Kenneth D. Rosenman, M.D., professor at Michigan State University.

“The relative risk rates of developing adult asthma in relation to exposure to cleaning products could account for as much as 15 percent of adult asthma cases,” says Zock.

The study is the first to investigate the effects of cleaning products on occasional users rather than occupational users and appeared in the second issue for October of the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. The study included more than 3,500 subjects across 22 centers in 10 European countries. Subjects were assessed for current asthma, current wheeze, physician-diagnosed asthma and allergy at follow-up, which took place an average of nine years after their first assessment. They were asked to report the number of times per week they used cleaning products.

The study was not designed to find the biological mechanism behind the increase in asthma. “There is a need for researchers to conduct further studies to elucidate both the extent and mechanism of the respiratory toxicity associated with such products,” Zock says.

In the meantime, play it safe by using cleaners that don’t come in spray bottles, or if you must, wear a dust mask like the ones you find in hardware and drug stores. I know it looks a little extreme, but who cares if it helps to save your lungs?
_______________________________________________________________________
Disclaimer: The purpose of this weblog is not to dispense medical advice nor in any way is meant to be construed as prescriptive. Always check with your physician before beginning any new program or trying any of the items discussed in the posts that appear on this site.